A new multi-concept restaurant and co-op, slated to open this fall in downtown Waukesha, wants to give local chefs a place to start or expand their business.
5Joints @ 5Points, opening by mid-September at 257 W. Broadway, will feature five concepts serving a variety of cuisines, each headed by a different chef. It will occupy the former Chappie’s on Broadway, which closed earlier this year. Before that, the space was home to The Crest Pub & Grill, an Irish restaurant that closed last year.
The restaurant, which will occupy a 10,000-square-foot ground-floor space with a seating capacity of 210, will feature a kitchen with five work stations for five chefs. An additional 6,000-square-foot space on the second floor will provide office and educational space, with a conference room and classroom for the chefs to operate their businesses, and a teaching kitchen to hold public cooking classes.
“Most young chefs cannot afford to buy a building and equipment to open up a restaurant, but we’re hoping this is their opportunity to have their own kitchen and space,” owner Terence Williams said.
Williams, a longtime chef and restauranteur, has teamed up with Undraye Howard, who is the director of Milwaukee’s Alliance for Strong Families, to launch the project.
With their Waukesha-based joint venture, World Hospitality Companies, they will provide the majority of the cost a chef would incur if they opened a restaurant on their own– typically $150,000, Williams said. Each chef will cover a $25,000 co-op fee to be part of 5Joints @ 5Points, but all other expenses such as rent, electricity and kitchen equipment are covered, he said.
“We want to build a community and give a chef the chance I never had when I was growing up,” he said. “We are looking for chefs with drive and passion, who want to have their own restaurant.”
Williams, who is a Texas native, earlier this year also launched food truck Tex-a-Consin, which he transports to various public and private events throughout Wisconsin to serve his southern-style barbecue specialities.
Tex-a-Consin will be the main cuisine at 5Joints @ 5Points, but the restaurant will also serve vegan, Tex-Mex, and Italian-style foods, as well as deli items such as sandwiches and confectionery-style desserts.
Williams said he is currently seeking chefs who specialize in each of these cuisines, and hopes to finalizing the cohort within the restaurant’s first 90 days. He hopes to recruit both new chefs looking to open their first restaurant location and experienced chefs looking to expand their existing concept.
Open for lunch and dinner, 5Joints @ 5Points will be a sit-down concept. It will offer one menu featuring each of the five cuisines. Each chef will each their respective dishes from their individual work areas in the kitchen.
“Visualize a competitive ‘Chopped’ kitchen with work stations,” Williams said. “But this will be a learning kitchen instead of a competing kitchen. The chefs will be working together, not against each other.”
Williams hopes to eventually expand the 5Joints @ 5Points footprint throughout other areas of the state, opening additional restaurants in Madison and downtown Milwaukee among other cities.
